...Winding Path...

By Zetta
CHARACTERS: James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Sybil Trelawney, Taura Sinastra, Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore, and more!
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: An explosion in the Three Broomsticks. Lily was inside. It's not going to be a good day.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I did research for this one!! Yay me!
SPOILERS: Up to GoF (Book 4).
DELAY: Er... Busy summer? Laziness? Lack of motivation? Pick one.
OOTP NOTES: This fic was started Pre-OotP, and so will be different from the book. Certain names may be used that are from OotP, and new characters (if there are any coming, I can't remember at the moment) may have their personality adjusted slightly, but this story will not be changed for the most part. Don't like it? Don't read it.

Chapter Ten

"I don't think so, Auror Potter."

The voice was cold and unfamiliar, yet James knew who it had to belong to. Bellatrix Lestrange, the only female suspected to be a Death Eater. He had met her twice- she was five years older than him and her husband had been one of David's friends until he'd turned sides. She'd been over to their house dozens of times.

"Hands up," she commanded. "Where I can see them."

The wand barely touched the back of his neck, but he could feel it. He slowly raised his hands, still kneeling in the dirt.

"Stand up, Auror."

"I'm not an Auror," he said, glancing into the burning building and feeling horror grow within him. No one was running out. Lily was inside and it was on fire and no one was running out and a bloody Death Eater was holding a wand to him.

People were still on the street, but they had all noticed the scene and were running away.

Several pops were heard, and James knew it wasn't the Aurors yet- a man in a black mask sauntered up to him. "Ah, my sweet, wonderful job. The Dark Lord will be most pleased with this one."

"Isn't he lovely?" the woman drawled.

"He looks just like his father did," said one of the Death Eaters. "And his brother and nephew. Isn't that charming? The Potters were all dark haired with glasses- though you'll be forgotten about as soon as you're dead. Eight in less than a year. A new record, I believe. We'll have to go after the Weasleys to break it. They've got kids too, you know. Some of them are even younger than your sisters were before we killed them."

"That's commendable," James said, feeling rage bubbling up within him. "Going after little children who can't even get on a broom yet. Real brave of you."

"It serves a purpose," said the woman. "Keep your hands up. You two, go make sure there are no survivors. A half a dozen just went in the store across the street. It would be horrible if they were killed while the Auror was watching, don't you think?"

There was laughter as the Death Eaters dispersed, seeming as though they were in no hurry.

One of them paused to pick up the wand that James had dropped when he'd fallen and pocketed it.

James forced himself to calm down and think. If the Death Eaters got other hostages, he knew he was screwed. He had to act fast. He had to act now.

He had to get the wand in his boot and somehow get out of their range of fire and somehow stop them and somehow figure out how in Merlin's name he was going to do all of this without getting himself or anyone else killed.

That last part would be trickiest.

He kept his hands up and glanced around, then slowly turned around.

Bellatrix didn't stop him. She would regret it later.

"Did you ever figure out how your family died last year?" she asked, and James knew she was smiling behind the mask. "How your father was the first to go, and your sisters were the last? Your brother cried, you know. Wept like his son did."

James didn't let himself listen, because he knew he wouldn't be able to do anything if he did hear what she was saying. It was obviously meant to anger him, and he was already getting angry, but he had to concentrate on doing what was necessary. He looked over her shoulder to see if any Death Eaters were close enough to physically stop him. They weren't.

He dove at her, knocking her wand out of his way and pushing her to the ground. He grabbed her wand from her hand after a struggle and rolled her over on top of him.

She got hit with a Stunning Charm and collapsed, dead weight on top of him. He shoved her off and aimed at the Death Eater closest to him. "Impedimenta!"

The Death Eater slowed, and James stumbled to his feet once more, aiming at the next wizard running at him. "Stupefy!"

He missed.

The Death Eater didn't.

"Crucio!"

James stumbled backwards and lost his balance, losing the wand he'd been using as he fell. He landed in the glass that had broken from the explosion, heat from the fire raging within hitting him. He couldn't feel it with the Cruciatus on him, and his hands shaking, he barely managed to get his second wand out of his boot. He raised it with trembling hands. "Expelliarmus!" he croaked, all of his strength gathered to say it, and the Death Eater that was holding the curse on him lost his wand. The majority of the pain went away, leaving him with the aftereffects of the curse.

"MORSMORDE!" a Death Eater roared, and the green Dark Mark shot up into the sky. A loud alarm was going off throughout the town- the Aurors would be there soon, but James knew it was not going to be soon enough.

James aimed at another. "Relashio!" he commanded. The sparks hit the Death Eater and his robes caught fire. He whirled about to face the next one, feeling heat rush past him as the Death Eaters threw curses at him, and the fire raged behind him.

James tensed as he saw a man dropping to the woman's side- Lestrange- his wand coming up.

He knew what was coming and couldn't get his wand up fast enough.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The light was green and came towards him, and missed him by such a close distance that James knew he would have nightmares about it.

"Stupefy!" James fired back, and heard footsteps coming towards him from a little to the left. He fired the same curse at that Death Eater.

In a brief moment of clarity, he vowed to work on his aim when he got the chance. Both missed.

The moment over, he dropped and rolled, narrowly avoiding another curse, but getting hit by one from the Death Eater by the woman. His arm lit up with pain that made the Cruciatus feel like pleasure.

"Stupefy!" James snapped, his voice strained from the pain. "Expelliarmus! Impedimenta! Conjunctiva! Stupefy!"

The Impediment Jinx and the Conjunctive Curse hit the male by the woman, and he roared and covered his eyes. One of the others fell from a Stunning Spell.

"Crucio!" another screeched, furiously, and as James finally found some shelter behind an overturned wagon on the side of the street, he was hit by another curse, one he had never felt before that made his arm go numb for a moment. His left arm was useless after that, and he raised his right again and began firing curses once more.

The woman was revived, and aiming her wand as two of the Death Eaters began to levitate the wagon.

"Kill him!" the woman screeched, trying to get around some of the others so she might be able to do that.

One of the Death Eaters hit him with another unfamiliar curse as the wagon was raised, and James felt horrible pain go through him and found that he couldn't breath properly.

The wagon was nearly gone now, and he had no cover, and couldn't breath properly enough to fight back very well.

A group of witches and wizards Apparated right in front of him.

"Aurors!" was the cry from the Death Eaters, and they began Disapparating before the Aurors could get the anti-Dissapparation spell up.

Two Aurors were facing him and after they glanced around to check for danger, they hurried over to him. "Get him away from the building before it collapses," commanded a senior Auror. "Two of you put the Stabilizing spells on the building and go in, four more go in with them. The rest of you check the town out and bring the wounded and dead across the street. Go!"

They had already started moving before he'd finished speaking.

James leaned heavily on one of the Aurors as he was helped across the street, the other running ahead to talk to the Medi-Witch who had just Apparated in. "What's your name?" the Auror asked sharply.

"Potter," James said through gritted teeth, trying to breath. It hurt so bad though, and he could barely manage, and all he could think about was Lily, and Merlin, she had to be all right or he was going to-

"James Potter?" the Auror said, apparently recognizing the name. "I thought I'd read you quit."

James didn't bother to tell him he did, but sat down on the edge of the sidewalk. "Lily Evans. She was inside. Find out if she's all right."

The Auror gave him a long look, then frowned at the approaching Medi-Witch. "His name's Potter, James. Trouble breathing, and something's wrong with his left arm."

A loud crash came from inside the Three Broomsticks, and a half a dozen Aurors ran towards it, aiming their wands and shouting stabilizing spells at the building that looked to be collapsing. A man was stumbling out at last, and another Auror helped him out.

James was sure he was going to be sick- Lily still hadn't come out.

"You look like shit, James," said Frank Longbottom, jogging over to them. He knelt near James as the Medi-Witch joined them and the first two Aurors ran off. "What curses were you hit with?" the witch asked sharply.

James gasped for air, closing his eyes and trying to concentrate. "Uh... I don't know. I didn't hear. Frank," he said. He had to pause for a moment. "Lily Evans. Inside. Make sure she's... all right."

"Hrm..." the woman said. "Step back, Longbottom."

She squatted down in front of him and gently prodded his stomach.

James felt as though he would be ill, the pain was so intense. He jerked back away from her, his breathing becoming even more difficult.

The woman pursed her lips. "Do as he said, Longbottom. I'm afraid this is not going to be pleasant, and I don't want people standing around and watching."

*..:..*..:..*..:..*..:..*..:..*

Lily had been released the day after the attack, her injuries minimal due to a very heroic man who had pushed her out of the way of a falling ceiling support. He had been in the hospital for two days after, and Lily had spent quite a bit of time visiting with him in between her visits with James, grateful the stranger had nothing more wrong with him than a large bruise on his head.

James had not been so fortunate. It had taken two hours to fix the No-Breathing Hex that he'd been hit with- fortunately it hadn't been a very good shot, and it had only hit one lung- and then he'd been forced to stay in the hospital for two days after that because of the potions he'd been given and the number of curses he'd been hit with.

Monday, the day he was supposed to be released, he woke up and felt as though his entire arm was on fire, and it had hurt so bad that he'd barely been able to move it enough to twitch his fingers.

The Medi-Wizards had been assembled and studied him intently for the rest of the day, only to return triumphantly on Tuesday with the news that they'd found the curse and the cure. The curse was some horrible bone-rotting hex that had started in one bone in his arm and had already spread to his hand and was working its way up to his shoulder.

He was forced to drink even more wretched potions which put him to sleep for another two days- until Thursday- and then woke to the news that the potion hadn't worked, proved by the utterly terrible pain in his arm and shoulder, and he was going to have to take a second much stronger dosage.

This time he slept for four days. Monday, over a week after he'd arrived at the hospital, he was given a week's worth of potions and allowed to go home.

No one specified which home, and so he Flooed to Hogwarts, jarring his arm as he stepped out of the fireplace and flinching because it hurt- badly. I should have Apparated, he thought, pulling the bag Sirius had brought him over his good shoulder and making his way down the long hallways towards his room.

Never mind that Apparation was out of the question with the mix of potions he was on.

He didn't run into anyone, and was very disappointed to find that Lily wasn't in her classroom.

He entered his and went up to his room, dropping his bag on the floor. He hesitated for a moment, and then kicked his shoes off and laid down on the bed, his arm throbbing.

He closed his eyes and tried to ignore it.

Over a week in the hospital had given him more than enough time to grow sick of the radio, tired of reading, frustrated with checking assignments and such that someone had sent from the school. He'd spent a lot of time thinking about Lily and his job and his life and he'd spent a lot of time wondering what he would do when the end of the year came- in less than two months.

And that wasn't true, he realized as he lay there, working the fingers on his injured arm. After the disaster that had been the weekend before, he'd come to several conclusions.

The first had hit him when the Three Broomsticks had exploded with Lily inside.

He loved her even more than he'd thought- more than he'd ever loved anyone before.

It was terrifying, and even more so when she'd come to visit him after she'd been released from the hospital. She'd been crying and had held his hand, and had kissed him and said, quite clearly, "I love you, James..." and had left before he could stammer out a reply. He'd cursed the potions that dulled his wits so much that he couldn't even repeat the sentiment to her, though cursing them hadn't done anything but make him grumpier the next time he'd had to take them.

That had been the only time they'd seen each other when they were both conscious and awake in the week and a half since the attack. The other times she'd tried to see him, he had been sleeping. She'd left a note telling him that she'd been by, but he had decided that it would be a bit of a cheat if he left her a note instead of telling it to her face.

Silly thing to be worrying about, he mused, half-asleep.

During that stay in the hospital, he'd also come to the conclusion that he was going to go back to the Ministry after the year at Hogwarts was over.

How would Lily react to that? he wondered. James could still remember the way his family had reacted when he'd told them what he wanted to do. His father had not argued with him- how could he? James was following in his footsteps.

His mother had cried when she thought he couldn't hear her.

His brother and sister-in-law had exchanged worried looks and David had quietly pulled him aside and reminded him of all of their father's Auror friends who had died over the past twenty years alone- how long would it be before he, James, was the one dying?

His sisters had been too young to really understand, and he had been grateful for that. He'd held them and played with them, and known that his entire family hated the idea of him being an Auror- not because it was anything bad, but because it was dangerous.

He wondered if Lily would be able to handle it. It wasn't easy being an Auror's wife, nor his family. James remembered a lot of nights staying up late and waiting for his father to come home. His mother would have remembered even more.

He wondered what he would do if Lily decided she didn't want the stress of having him in her life any longer.

He fell asleep still thinking about it.

*..:..*..:..*..:..*..:..*..:..*

The following morning, Lily came to see him two hours before classes were supposed to start.

He groaned as the light came on, and tried to see who it was. When he recognized her and confirmed that she didn't look upset, he closed his eyes again. "What's going on?"

"I haven't seen you for a week," Lily answered, sitting on the edge of his bed. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

He yawned. "I'm fine. A little tired. Comes with being woken up at..." He opened his eyes to peak at the clock, then groaned. "Six o'clock in the bloody morning... Don't care how much I love you, this morning crap has to stop."

She laughed and laid down by his side.

He rolled over to face her and couldn't stop himself from leaning forward enough to kiss her, morning breath or not.

She returned the kiss eagerly enough, her fingers skimming over his face as he shifted to move his good arm to pull her closer.

"I don't have enough time for this," she said reluctantly when their mouths parted. "I only came in here so I could see you for a little before classes."

"You woke me up an hour before I had to get up," he said. "Do you think I'll let you go any time soon?"

He kissed her again before she could answer.

That was followed by another kiss, and then another and another.

*..:..*..:..*..:..*..:..*..:..*

Despite the fact that he and Lily had been so caught up in each other that they'd each been late to their early morning classes, the classes seemed to take forever. (And hadn't that been embarrassing- the two of them coming down from his bedroom while his room was filled with students. They'd both cleaned up, but surely it was obvious what they'd been up to.) The day dragged on and he suffered through it with a raging headache.

Fortunately, his students were unusually quiet, relieved that he was back and they would no longer be shuffled back and forth between teachers of varying skill.

And apparently they were afraid of upsetting him after hearing exaggerated tales of what he'd done the week before.

The seventh years he had in the afternoon politely asked if he would tell them what had actually happened.

He told them to read the Daily Prophet and then had to eat his words as they started talking about curses and he ended up using examples from that particular fight.

He had two more classes after that and his arm was throbbing at the end of them. He took one of the less potent pain medications- one that wouldn't put him to sleep- and finished.

Once the last class was gone and he was alone, he dropped in the chair behind his desk and closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, the room was dark except for a fire in the fireplace and there was a blanket on top of him and a note on lavender paper on his desk, next to a tray of soup and sandwiches and a pot of tea that was piping hot and fresh.

He opened the note before touching any of the food, too paranoid after a week in the hospital to risk falling victim to anything else.

James,

You looked pretty tired, so I didn't want to disturb you. Pomfrey had the house-elves bring a tray up, and she expects you to eat all of it- or else. I'll be up with Sybil for a while, but I'll come by and check on you before I go to bed. If you're still awake, I'll tuck you in.

Love, Lily

Love, Lily, he read again, smiling a bit. He'd never really realized how nice it was to have someone sign their name that way, and mean it that way. His parents and sisters had signed it that way, of course, and his brother on occasion, but to have it come from Lily...

He ate the sandwich and the soup and drank the tea and flipped open his notebook to work on the lesson plan for the next week.

He'd finished through Friday when Lily came in. "Why Professor," she said, as though surprised. "You're awake."

He abandoned the lesson plan in the middle of a word, capping the ink bottle and putting the quill away. "It does happen once in a while. Hi."

She smiled. "Hi. I came over to tuck you in."

He raised an eyebrow. "You can do whatever you want."

"Oh, good," she said. "Because I've been dying to kiss you all day."

He stood up and walked around the desk then puckered his lips like a child. "Kiss away," he said in between puckers.

She laughed and did so.

A while later they were stretched out on the couch in his sitting room, limbs entangled and clothing very mussed, though still on.

"Tell me a secret about you," Lily said, sitting up and getting comfortable facing him. "Something most people don't know."

He thought about his secrets for a moment, then nodded slightly. "All right. When I was fifteen, I became an Animagus."

Lily looked startled. "An Animagus- but that's... You aren't registered, you can't be one."

He smiled wryly. "Want to bet?"

She gave him a long look. "No... But how? Why on Earth would you want to be one? It's horribly dangerous."

He smiled at her. "We found out about Remus at the end of first year. At the end of third year we had finished researching ways to try and cure him, and Sirius had the idea to join him... Animagi aren't affected by a werewolf's bite... It was perfect. It took us until the middle of fifth year to do it though. We couldn't register because it was illegal at that age, you know?"

"That's incredible," Lily breathed. "What are you? Are all of you Animagus? What are the others?"

"Peter's a rat," James answered. "Chubby little thing, but good for blending in." He smiled, remembering. "And for being the watch. Unless the cats were out, and then he wouldn't leave our sides. Sirius is a huge black dog... Do you remember how at the end of seventh year, the fifth years were being stalked by the Grim?"

Lily nodded, her eyes wide with amusement. James continued. "Well, Sirius was sick of working on the NEWTs and took a break, and found a bunch of Slytherins... It was beautiful."

Lily laughed. "And what are you, Potter?"

"I'm a stag," he answered. "With antlers."

She laughed, delighted. "That's wonderful!" She sat up, shifting and getting comfortable, facing him now. "Tell me something else."

He smirked. "I know of seven passageways out of the castle- and Filch only knows two of them."

She chuckled. "Still hiding things from him, hm?"

"Tell me something about you," he said.

She sighed. "I don't think I've got any good secrets..." Then she winced, remembering. "Oh yes... I had a crush on Professor McKinley when he was teaching Defense."

"McKinley?" James repeated, staring at her. "McKinley, the 40 year old who tried to kill half of us?"

"I didn't know he was evil," Lily complained, not looking offended. "Besides- I didn't think he looked a day over 39 and a half."

James chuckled. "That's the worst thing you can confess to?"

"I've always been good," Lily sighed. "I never did anything bad... All right, so that's not true. In sixth year, Sybil and I snuck out of the castle, flew to a Muggle pub and got wasted while some of the other girls covered for us. That was probably the worst thing we ever did."

"You and Sybil did that?" James asked, torn between gaping and laughing. "I never pictured her the type."

Lily shrugged. "Well, there's a lot of things you don't know about her."

"Such as?"

Lily looked away, growing serious. "Well. For one thing, she's been having a lot of visions lately. She thinks that if you and I get seriously involved with each other, something terrible will happen."

James frowned. "Is that why she doesn't like me?"

"For the most part," Lily admitted. They looked at each other for a moment. "Anything else?"

He thought for a moment, then sat back with a sigh. "Two things. The first. I think I'm in love with you."

She blinked. "Oh. You're not sure? You were this morning. What changed?"

He shrugged, feeling a little sheepish. "Okay, so I know I am, but it sounded better to say it that way. Sorry."

She was trying not to smile, her eyes soft and shining. "I'll forgive you this time."

"You have a generous and forgiving soul," he assured her.

She laughed. "What's the second?"

He grew serious again and sat up. "At the end of the year, I'm going back to the Aurors."

She failed to look surprised.

He shifted. "Um. I thought you should know."

She nodded slightly, the smile gone from her face, replaced by understanding and worry. "I figured that out a long time ago, James. You wouldn't be happy if you didn't."

"It took me this long to figure it out myself," he grumbled.

"Poor baby," she said.

He grinned. "Yeah, I am... Kiss me and make it better?"

Once more, my apologies for the delay.

This story is giving me major issues... I really want to finish it, but I have little motivation to do so. I'm doing the best I can to finish it, but don't be surprised by long delays such as the last one. (Sorry!)

As i said before the chapter, I don't plan on changing this to be an OotP story. I started it a long time before OotP and it wouldn't work as well if it were based on OotP facts. If you don't like it, no one's making you read it. Names of future characters might be changed, or little details might be added, but I'm not going to make Sirius's family evil, or make Lily and James into Love/Haters, or James into such a prat. I changed Mr. and Mrs. Lestrange's names from the last chapter and this chapter, but that's all I plan on doing.

Thanks to aissy55, Squeak4ever, vega black, x-woman1, Raesaline, Mondo, lilypad-james, mooncancer, and zwizwi for reviewing! I really appreciate it.

time-stitch- No, James didn't rush in and save the day.... Hope that wasn't disappointing... I did debate doing that for a while, then decided it was, as you put it, cliche, and also unrealistic. And though you hadn't read the fifth book at the time of your review, it doesn't matter if you did or didn't, at least wiith this story, because nothing's getting changed for it. And I'm glad you like Sirius. :o)
Aileron (or should I say Aileron1?) No problem with the delay- I've been guilty of that quite a bit lately. Thank you for your review, it was really good.... Glad to hear you think everything fit together, and James was in character. Also glad you think Lily works well as she is. *snicker* And now that summer is almost over, I doubt I'll move any faster with writing... lol. Sorry. :o)
Lavender: End of school resolution to be a better reviewer? That's one I haven't heard before... Nonetheless, it's a good goal and I hope it works for you. :o) lol. I'm sure you're not emotionally unstable- well, maybe you are, but that's not such a bad thing, is it? And very glad it almost makes you cry. :o)
Destiny's Phoenix: lol. Well, I'm glad this story keeps popping up and you keep readinig it... Certainly makes me happy! Hope you continue to see it pop up. Er... Wasn't exactly a Lily gets hurt and might die scenario, but hope you liked it anyway? :o) Thank you for the review, I really appreciate the time and thought you put into it. :o)
everblue3: Hope you enjoyed France! Also hope you're not going to drop out of the HP world... it would not make me happy... And you don't want to make me and your dozens of thousands of other fans unhappy, do you? Huh? *crosses fingers*. Geez... It's been so long that I don't remember most of what we were talking about...
The Lily/Sybil/James stuff will be addressed more and more as the story passes... I've been looking over the outlinie for it and it will certainly be covered. Glad you like my "subtle mentioning".
lol... It's not so much that Nipper (my dog) is stupid or anything, it's the breed of dog he is- he has a tough time with bladder control. When he gets excited, well, he just does what he does. And we're casual dog people anyway- Nipper has full access to the house (except the garage), and he sleeps at my feet. Or sometimes my stomach. Or sometimes on my head. Whatever. It's not as bad as i make it out to be... :o)
Yes, I understand *very* well about not wanting to have to Write it... Sort of what i'm going through here. I do hope to see more of your story soon.
I'm afraid this isn't one of my best chapters, but considering the trouble i've had with it, i'd say this is as good as it's going to get. A bit more up front romance, unfortunately... Don't worry, some good old fashioned graveyard angst coming up after the next fluffy bit (I hate fluff!)... If i ever get around to it!
lol... And I also like and appreciate your view on Perfect!Lily being acceptable in this story. She'll be getting a little less perfect as time goes along, with something similar tot what you suggested happening.
*sigh* I like my Arabella... I'm a bit disappointed (but unsurprised) with OotP's Arabella- just because she wasn't quite the Arabella I love from this story. ;o) But I did like her once I got past that. :o)
lol... I do hope to read more of your story soon...
Got Harry: As always, thank you for the review... And for all of the help with it. :o) And I'm glad you like Rosmerta's story, even if it is sad...
Lamina Court: Well, I hope you're enjoying the Yahoo group... lol. :o) Lavender and I are really happy you joined. :o) Canadians celebrate the Queen Mum's birthday? Um... okay... lol. But we celebrate some pretty stupid things too, I suppose, so there you go... lol
Did you decide to write the Remus fic or not?
Thanks for the help with my questions... lol. i'm very sorry... Poor Remus is going to take a beating in the rest of this story... I always feel so bad for him.... Which is why I try to make life good for him when I write my MWPP-in-hogwarts fics... :o)
lol... When you reviewed, there were two days to OotP left... Wow... Sorry for the delay?
Amy: Sorry for the update delay... I iddn't mean to! Once more, your ideas on the end of the last chapter were slightly off, but I hope you enjoyed anyway. And the Auror question was officially answered in this chapter... Lily will be getting less perfect as the story goes on (I hope!) . Also hope that you continue to enjoyh reading thtis. :o)